Friday June 2, 2023
We eat another breakfast in the apartment and head out for our morning walk to the old town. We get to the edge of town and go in to visit Scaligero Castle. the castle dates back to the 13th century and is a rare example of a medieval port fortification. It gets its name from the person who ordered it built, Leonardino dell Scala. The family was from Verona and were known as the Scaligero. They ruled Verona and a large part of the Venetian area from 1259 to 1387. It is surrounded by water but doesn’t have a standard moat as the waters of this castle are those of the lake. The castle appears to come out of the lake itself. We head inside where there are a few signs about the castle.
We climb up on the ramparts and get nice views of the old town and the lakefront framed by the ancient castle battlements. There have been reports of a ghost in the castle. Local story is that in the Middle Ages, the castle was home to a young couple, Arice and Ebengardo. One night a man called Elaberto went to the castle asking for shelter and the young couple agreed. Elaberto caught a glimpse of Arice and felt an irresistible attraction to the young woman. He assaulted her in the night and she screamed for help. Before Ebengardo could save her, Elaberto had stabbed her to death. Ebengardo vindicated her death killing Elaberto with the same knife but spent the rest of his life alone in the castle feeling guilty for not saving his wife. His ghost is said to haunt the castle.
After the castle we go for a walk to find the small church of San Pietro. It is off the main tourist trail,. At an intersection, we spot a path that looks like it will go to the lakefront so we check it out. We need to burn off some extra calories and the diversion will do that. We walk along the lake until the trail climbs up a steep rocky trail. It looks like it is heading toward where we went yesterday so we turn around and walk back to the intersection we started at. We find the Church of San Pietro and go inside. It has some very nice 12th and 15th century frescos. Outside is a war memorial, the Bell of the Fallen, with the inscription For all Italians who have fallen for the fatherland.
From the church, we decide that it is warm enough out to go swimming again. We try a different beach which is closer to the castle. It does not have the big rock slabs but does have some small boulder rocks and pebbles which are hard on the feet. The trick is to get out past the lower shore water and deep enough to swim where you do not have to walk. Carol comes up with the idea to wear are flip flops to get past the rocks and then i add that we can use them on our hands as paddles since they wont stay on our feet when we swim. The plan works out great and we spend quite a bit of time in the water.
After we dry off, we head past the castle on the way out the old gate entrance to the peninsula. I get a few pictures of some ducks with a bright red bill. Then it is time to walk the 1.8 miles back to the apartment and have an afternoon siesta during the mid day heat. In the evening, we decide to eat pizza in and I go out to the place we ate the other day and order two pies to go. The place is hopping as it is Friday night but they let me sit at a small table while I wait. Back in the apartment, we enjoy our meal and then just relax and get our stuff together for tomorrows journey.
Expenses Pizza from export Pizza 18E yummy Appartmente Jamaica 98.68E Walked 7.6 Miles
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